If it sounds like a bribe and a smells like a bribe (or threat)..

Justice Dept reaches out to Ghlislaine Maxwell, a longtime "associate" of Epstein's

Top Justice Department officials have contacted lawyers representing Ghislaine Maxwell, a longtime associate of Jeffrey Epstein who is serving a prison term for sex trafficking, to address lingering questions about the case that have fueled a furious right-wing backlash.

Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general, announced on social media early Tuesday that he had requested a meeting with the disgraced former socialite, Mr. Epstein’s loyal co-conspirator and enabler who also interacted with the powerful men he courted — including President Trump.

“I have communicated with counsel for Ms. Maxwell to determine whether she would be willing to speak with prosecutors from the Department,” Mr. Blanche wrote in a statement on social media, stoking alarm among Mr. Epstein’s victims and their families.

“If Ghislane Maxwell has information about anyone who has committed crimes against victims, the FBI and the DOJ will hear what she has to say,” he wrote, misspelling Ms. Maxwell’s first name and adding that he was acting on Mr. Trump’s instruction to release all “credible” evidence.

The announcement came hours before a major committee in the Republican-controlled House voted to subpoena Ms. Maxwell, and days after The Wall Street Journal reported that Mr. Trump sent Mr. Epstein a salacious birthday greeting in 2003 in which he expressed close friendship. The overture is the latest in a flurry of frantic efforts by Trump subordinates intended to quell a political crisis precipitated by Attorney General Pam Bondi’s announcement earlier this month that she was shutting down the Epstein investigation.

The unexpected furor over the case has forced the Republican-controlled Congress to confront a divisive political crisis in the middle of a victory lap after the passage of Mr. Trump’s signature domestic policy bill. House Republicans have been stymied from advancing an immigration bill and a rollback of Biden-era regulations after Democrats on a critical panel threatened to force a vote on an Epstein-related measure.

It is not clear how, or when, the Justice Department would release any information about an interview with Ms. Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year sentence in federal prison after a jury in Manhattan convicted her of sex trafficking and other crimes in 2022.

There are no indications, as of yet, that the talks will lead to a pardon or a reduction in her time behind bars. The department is currently fighting her appeal.

But the possibility that Ms. Maxwell, 63, who was implicated in pressuring some of Mr. Epstein’s young victims to engage in sexual acts, would position herself as a reliable narrator in the case was viewed with suspicion and revulsion.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/22/us/politics/ghislaine-maxwell-epstein-doj.html